


Tricks and Treats

by virgo_writer



Series: Sixteen-by-Eight Feet [11]
Category: Make It or Break It
Genre: Doctor Who References, Elvis Impersonator, F/M, Gen, Humor, Parent-Child Relationship, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-01-03
Updated: 2011-01-03
Packaged: 2020-09-01 23:08:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,160
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20266024
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/virgo_writer/pseuds/virgo_writer
Summary: It was Alexandru’s first real experience of Halloween. 16x8 Universe. Payson/Sasha.





	Tricks and Treats

_October 2026_

It was Alexandru’s first real experience of Halloween. And Caitlin’s too, in as much as a two year old could experience Halloween.

Sasha didn’t really understand the point of it all, as there wasn’t much a Halloween tradition in either of his heritages. Halloween in Romania was more for the adults than for the children, with people holding extravagant Western-style parties with elaborate costumes. 

The English had a few traditions, but those could hardly be regarded as being of the same calibre as American trick-or-treating. He had bobbed for apples as a child at his grandfather’s house in Cardiff. He had not gone door-to-door dressed as his favourite superhero begging for candy.

And to make matters worse, they lived right next door to one of _those_ houses. The ones who went completely over the top, and turned their house into a light display visible from outer space. He hadn’t been able to get “This Is Halloween” out of his head for days.

"You're pouting," Payson accused affectionately without glancing in his direction. 

"I'm not pouting," he replied sulkily, following behind her as she perused the vast array of Halloween attire. "It's an affront to my culture," he added, verging upon dramatic.

Payson scoffed, shaking her head as she moved in to take a closer look at a prospective costume. "It's no more of an affront than Uncle Luca's Halloween party," she said drolly. "He served Turkish delights on sticks and called them 'shits kebabs'."

Sasha sniggered a little at the clever pun (one that relied upon the word for shit - in the sense of meaning poor quality, trifling or cheap - in Romanian, also being the word for Turkish delight), but quieted as Payson turned and gave him a dry look. Apparently the joke was in bad taste when gauged by an American sense of humour, and he'd gotten in a bit of trouble when Sandu decided to ask, in front of her parents, whether they would be having “shits kebabs again this year”.

“It doesn’t translate properly,” he said in defence of his favourite uncle.

“You showed up as Dracula,” she deadpanned, standing up straight and putting her hands on her hips.

“Everyone showed up as Dracula,” he replied. “It was vampire-themed party in Bucharest.” As though that in itself explained everything.

She rolled her eyes, giving him an affectionate tap on the cheek. “Stop complaining,” she said simply. “You know Sandu’s been looking forward to this. Are you really going to deny your son his first trick-or-treating experience?”

Sasha sighed and shook his head, knowing she had him on that one. “I’m not wearing a costume,” he told her, trying to hold on to the last vestige of his authority.

“Yes, you are.”

* * *

“And who are you supposed to be?” the kindly older woman at the door asked, bending down to eye level with his son.

Sandu beamed up at her, unfolding the 3-D glasses in his hand and putting them on with the sort of flourish he only could have learnt from Austin Tucker, Mr Cobalt himself. “I’m the Doctor,” Sandu replied with a grin, imitating his father’s accent as best he could despite the fact that his father didn’t actually sound anything like _any_ of the thirteen Doctors and certainly not like the wild-haired, pinstripe wearing Doctor he was currently portraying.

The woman, Mrs Witters from five houses down, who was evidently not a sci-fi fan, eyed him curiously, looking for his stethoscope and the typical doctor embellishments. Sandu continued, oblivious to her confusion. “These are my companions,” he said, waving to his father and sister. “Cati and Tată.

“And this is the TARDIS,” he added, holding up the specially procured candy bag in TARDIS blue with ‘Police Box’ written around the rim. “It’s dimensionally transcendental.” He said the last part slowly, but with a proud smile at his ability to say the impressively long phrase, even if, at six (nearly seven), he still wasn’t quite sure what that meant except to say that the TARDIS was ‘bigger on the inside’.

Mrs Witters just continued to look at him blankly before simply giving up and providing him with two candy bars in lieu of further explanation. Sandu grinned brightly and thanked the woman before darting back down the garden path with a exuberant, “Allons-y!” rendered by Romania pronunciation, which Sasha suspected probably had an impact upon its meaning.

“She looks absolutely adorable,” Mrs Witters cooed, holding out her arms for Caitlin. Sasha glanced over his shoulder, checking to see that Sandu hadn’t tried to go off without them – again. Due to his fathering of the cutest little girls in the neighbourhood, they’d been delayed that little bit longer at most of the houses so that the older women could coo over his eldest daughter, dressed this evening as a ridiculously adorable ladybird beetle. Sandu had, luckily, been intercepted by another of their neighbours and was talking with the twins from further down the street at the gate.

“She gets more and more like you every time I see her,” Mrs Witters told him, stroking the two-year-old’s downy cheek.

Sasha smiled, pride lighting up his features. “I take that as the ultimate compliment,” he said warmly. “Although, I don’t see it myself.”

“It takes a neutral eye,” Mrs Witters said simply, knowing from his smile that it was wife he saw in their little girl and not himself. “How’s Payson and the new bubby?” she asked incidentally.

“They’re both good,” he replied simply. “Resting.”

She smiled, about to press further when Sandu impatiently called, “_Haide__,Tată,”_ from the road.

“Patience, Sandu,” he called back in Romanian, not truly admonishing his son who had been incredibly patient at the first few houses this occurred at, but less so now as concerns over the supply of candy took hold. Mrs Witters handed back the adorably attired Caitlin while sending an indulgent smile towards Sandu as she bid them goodbye.

“Love the costume, by the way,” she added with a grin.

Sasha grimaced, scolding himself internally for the lapse in memory. He'd let himself momentarily forget that his wife was an absolute sadist and that he was currently roaming the streets of a neighbourhood _he had to live in_ dressed as what Payson had considered the only appropriate costume to match his ladybird daughter and Doctor son. And so tonight he was dressed in a tight black leather suit, his hair styled with massive amounts of gel and augmented by fake sideburns that Payson had taken great pleasure in adhering to his face. He was just glad she’d gone for the 1968 Comeback, rather than Vegas-era.

Forcing a smile, he did the only thing he could do in the situation to save face. He curled his lip, he shook his hips, and he attempted the only American accent he knew how to pull off with some consistency and uttered six words, perfectly parsed.

“Thank you. Thank you very much.”

**Author's Note:**

> Original Authors Note: I wanted to get this one ready for Halloween, but it just wouldn't do what I wanted. Strangely, the thing that seemed to hold it up was deciding what costume to put Sasha in. I was originally just going to dress him as a prince, but The King made a far better costume. And I did take pity on him, going for leather rather than spandex and rhinestones.  
The Turkish Delights on sticks is a reference to Vlad the Impaler. Câcat, which is also the word for Turkish Delight in Romanian, also means 'shit', but not really in the bodily functions way. It's more of a "I can't believe you spent $100 on this piece of shit" sort of way. Either way I'm pretty sure it'd be offensive, and that's probably exactly the sort of thing that earned Uncle Luca the position of favourite uncle.  
On other notes, it's 2026 in 16x8 universe, so I'm going to assume they've had at least two more Doctors (and I vaguely remember something about him only having 13, but then River did give up her remaining regenerations, so maybe he gets to add those to his lifespan). 
> 
> Allons-y: Let's Go (French). Tenth Doctor's catchphrase.  
Haide,Tată: Come on/Let's go, Dad (Romanian)


End file.
